Vindictive Drive
Vindictive Drive is a RPG Maker action mecha thriller game created by Balthasar02. The game was released on May 2017, published by SometimesYou on Steam for Microsoft Windows, the game features a Real Time Action/Stealth mechanics an a dark, story-driven setting with revenge themes. A final version called "Vindictive Drive: Definitive Edition" was released in May 2018, featuring (among other things) improved art, a Spanish language option and an additional Eureka scenario that takes place 10 years before the events of the main game. Synopsis The story follows Arris Fern, a young woman in her cold blooded revenge against her father, Charles Mourne, for the assassination of her mother, Genevieve Fern, 12 years ago. After years suffering the consequences of such situation, Arris decides to prepare a sadistic plan to corner Mourne and ultimately kill him, hunting down and manipulating the actors involved in her past in the proccess. The game has dark themes surrounding Arris' mental health, suicide, abuse and the cruelty of her methods. Game Features * Vindictive Drive's battle system relies on outsmarting security systems, avoiding cameras, and fooling your enemies using your computer and jamming devices, leaving the pistol as last resort. * Stealth is an important part of the game, you will be able to disable alarms and create distractions. * Story rich scenarios and suspense. * Talkative and friendly NPCs. * A lot of illustrations and animations made frame per frame. * Multiple endings depending on your decisions. Characters Arris Fern A cold and hostile 22-year old girl who decides to plot revenge against her father, responsible for her mother's death 12 years ago. As part of her plan, she manipulates all the people who were responsible or at least somehow involved in the events that ended with the death of her mother. Arris uses her influences to make Mourne lose political, economical and military power by taking over Freija, attacking the Senate and gaining control over the Galick Key. Even though she claims she's focused on her revenge and lost her emotions a long time ago, she still cares about her childhood friends Emma and Cyree, and her second motivation is to find Emma again (who was kidnapped in the past around the time her mother got murdered). Depending on the player's decisions, she might come to trust and care for Luna, which might force her to consider her plans for revenge and her mother's last words to her. Liz Barrett A professional assassin and member of SEITEN. After ambushing Arris in the Freija building and fatally injuring her, Emma becomes determined to capture Arris since she's a terrorist. Afterwards, Arris decides to blackmail her and force her into joining her revenge plan because of her strength. She begrudgingly accepts and becomes Arris's ally. By the end it's revealed she's Emma Fields, Alicia Fields's daughter. Emma used to be (separatedly) Arris and Cyree's childhood friends until her mysterious disappearence. Turns out she was kidnapped and trained in a military base since she was a child to form part of a secret program of an elite group of assassins. Near the end of the game, she recognizes Arris and pledges her loyatly to her for real. She's finally reunited with her mother and continues to support Arris with her revenge against Mourne. Luna Herz A kindhearted girl who works at Hex's Bar as substitute bartender and part time as receptionist in Freija's commercial building. She's popular in the bar due to her nice personality. Luna is cheerful, caring and thinks the best of people. Not much is known about her, but she constantly tries to befriend Arris, sensing how lonely she is. They become closer after she saves and heals Arris after her encounter with Frankie. Arris's interactions with Luna have a direct impact in the endings and she might be one of the few people Arris decides to trust and tell her real identity. Depending in how trusting Arris was towards Luna, it'll be a step to get the True Ending. Luna is also the mascot of Balthasar02's other games and has made short appearances. Cyree A young man who formed a gang with his college friends in order to steal the bank. They fail miserably and Cyree and America were forced by Arris into asisting her with her revenge plot, after she saves them from being captured by the police. Turns out he's childhood friends with Arris and briefly supported her emotionally when she was orphaned. In exchange, Arris considers him one of the few people she still cares about and regrets involving him in her revenge plan. Like Arris, his parents were abusive and divorced at some point. Cyree choose to live with his mother, as she was the least abusive of the two. It's revealed he was also childhood friends with Emma and was emotionally manipulating Arris by willingly go with her revenge plan in hopes of finding Emma again. It's hinted that Arris might have feelings towards him at one point, but he chooses America in the end. America Cyree's partner and college classmate. She's hot-tempered, reckless and very clingy towards Cyree. When it comes to him, America is willing to do anything he asks of, even helping rob a bank or joining Arris's cause. She's entirely dedicated to Cyree but is dismissive of everyone else and gets jealous of anyone who'll take Cyree's attention away from her, even getting jealous of Emma just because he was childhood friends with her. Arris hates her because of how unreasonable jealous she is and her own unrequited feelings towards Cyree. The feeling is mutual, but they're willing to work with each other. By the end of the story it's revealed Arris wanted her to join her revenge plan because her father worked in the Tryonate drug. Hex Reader The bar manager of the Hex Bar and an infamous information broker. She assigns missions to Arris in exchange for gadgets, government information and money. She's also seen flirting with Gustav sometimes. Hex often assists Arris and gives her the helper robots Amaranth and Ophelia. Despite Arris relying on her, she is aware that Hex is not to be trusted and her only priority is money and nothing else and she might betray her someday. Turns out Arris was right about not trusting Hex, as later in story she later sides with Gustav and betrays Arris by giving her location and sending several of her helper robots to fight against her. No matter the ending, Hex manages to escape justice and gets away with everything. The game files reveal that Hex is just an alias and her real name is Gene Kratena. Eureka An Hybrid Helper Robot, who escapes the facility she was locked in. Eureka was originally a human modified with mechanical parts to serve as Siege Unit for military purposes. At first she seems cordial, naive and willing to regain her lost humanity. But after she's manipulated by Amy Mourne and drugged with Tryonate, she becomes unstable for a while and forced to attack Arris against her will. Depending on the player's actions, Arris might put her out of her misery, force her to leave and convince her to regain her purpose in life using Genevieve's final words. If Arris manages to gain her trust, Eureka becomes her ally and can live like a normal human by the end of the story. The "Vindictive Drive: Definitive Edition" reveals that Eureka is actually a clone of Liz Barrett. Endings 'Dead Ending 1: "The Problem Was There"' If Arris choses not to help Luna with her car, she'll run into Liz. Arris tries to run but Liz easily corners her and begins questioning her about the terrorist attack at Freija. In self-defense, Arris is forced to use the control of the Galick mecha, so it would obliterate Liz from distance. During their confrontation, Liz forces Arris to say her real identity and not the "Genevieve Victoriano" fake name. Cornered, Arris gives her real name, but this makes Liz angry, claiming that Arris "has investigated about her background and is using it against her". This makes Arris connect the dots and realizes Liz is Emma. Just in that moment, the Galick appears and obliterates Emma. Realizing that she ended up killing her missing friend and that she's too far gone with her revenge, Arris falls into despair and shots herself in the head. 'Dead Ending 2: "Nothing (Good) To Feel"' Cyree went to Emma's old house to find more information about her, but he's cornered by Gustav's forces. Alicia warns Arris about this and she's regretful about involving Cyree in her revenge plot. She goes to the pier to think about her actions so far, having the option to be motivated by her mother's last words or to ignore her epiphany. If Arris chooses to ignore her epiphany, she blames herself for Cyree's current situation and realizes that she has endagered one of the few people whom she still cares about. Aware that she’s too far gone with her revenge plot, Arris shots herself in the head. 'Neutral Ending: "Lacking the Will to Survive"' If Arris has neutral karma by the time she confronts Mourne. A drugged Mourne kills Eris and mortally wounds Arris. Amy reveals herself to have be the leader of Biokernel and that she was constantly drugging Mourne in the past in order to make him abusive and kill Genevieve. Afterwards, she kills Mourne and escapes the building. With Arris out of commission, Emma chases after Amy, but she's confronted by Gustav. Even though Emma wins the fight, Arris and America (depending on your decisions) are dead. Cyree and Eureka are gone. And Amy gets away with everything and Biokernel takes over the world. 'Bad Ending: "Everyone Pays the Price"' If Arris has high bad karma by the time she confronts Mourne. When Arris corners Mourne, she kills Eris and America out of spite. Cyree and Emma are horrified that she killed an innocent child who had nothing to do with her revenge plot and start calling her out on her actions, saying that she has gone too far for the sake of her grudge against Mourne. Emma tries to kill Arris, but she says she's planned for everyone to die with her and that she's hacked Biokernel headquarters so their forces would shoot the building. Arris shoots herself in the head as several Biokernel helicopters destroy the building, killing Mourne, Amy, Cyree, Emma and everyone in it. 'True Ending: "I Want to Live"' If Arris has high good karma by the time she confronts Mourne. It goes the same as the Neutral Ending, except that Arris survives her wound and Eureka succesfully shoots the helicopter Gustav and Amy are on, killing them. Afterwards Luna becomes the new owner of Hex’s bar. Alicia becomes the president and leader of Freija and also adopts the now-orphaned Eris. Cyree and America move away from the city and are living together with other identities. Eureka can finally have a normal life and works at Luna's bar. Emma becomes the leader of the security force. Unfortunately Hex has gotten away with everything and Arris was captured and is now confined in a mental facility. It's revealed that before giving herself in to the police, Arris told Luna the whole events of the game and finally seems to be at peace with herself. Release In January 2017, after a year of development, the game was added to Steam in Early Access with six playable chapters, in this time, Balthasar discussed with players how to improve the game, a few of them, like AtlasAtrium, ended involved in the development of the game. Two months after that, in May 15th, the game was released completing the story including the last three chapters. After the release, a new version was announced in which Balthasar stated will include translations to Spanish and Korean. Reception Using dark themes, puzzle solving and a lot of action, Vindictive Drive has been released to a majority of positive reviews, hitting over 100.000 downloads just a month and three days after the final release. With in average 300 concurrent players per day, with a peak of over 1600 players in one day, It was rated #3 highest rated Action/Adventure game, and #429 of all genres in PC in GameFAQs(updated 8/23/17).''' The '''Early Access version had mixed reviews, with some negative criticism on its dark themes, difficultly and controls, most of these points were modified for the final version, giving Vindictive Drive its current reception scores. Trivia * Luna's design was originally one of MikuLeRoux's custom outfits for a photoshoot. * The Subterranean Vault, and Frankie's bat scene are Max Payne references. * A character awkwardly similar to Yui Hirasawa from K-On! is killed by the Galick-00 during the Senate Massacre Scene. External Links *Vindictive Drive's official site *Vindictive Drive on Steam *Vindictive Drive in TvTropes *SometimesYou official site *Developer's blog *Developer's Facebook Page Category:Releases (RPG Maker VX Ace) Category:Released in 2017 Category:Action Category:Thriller Category:Western Games Category:Finished Projects Category:Mystery Category:Mature Content Projects